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"Easy Action" is every bit as good as the more commercial "Killer" & "Love It To Death," which both followed a year later. This album hypnotically rocks the listener into a state of post-psychedelic, proto-metal frenzy.

Quite possibly the first album to use the line, "got a rocket in your pocket" (which KISS shamelessly stole, in 1976, on "Take Me" - track 2 on "Rock 'N Roll Over"), the underrated "Easy Action" was a blueprint of creepy, eerie, long-haired, things to come in the '70s and '80s.

I would consider "Easy Action" every bit an equal to Deep Purple's seminal masterpiece, "In Rock." Any serious fan, who is interested in the origins of hard rock should buy this long obscured classic.


A Lost Classic   October 21, 2003
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I bought Pretties for You when it first came out and the Alice Cooper Band sounded so weird that I loved them instantly. As quirky and muddy as the sound was on Pretties, this their second album, Easy Action, sounded a whole lot better. I love every track on this album and it is still my favorite out of their catalogue. The songs are strange and not nearly as commercial as their later work for Warner Brothers. I met Alice in the mid eighties and had him autograph my copy of this album and he was surprised to see someone actually had it. Right after I bought this album, I saw them play live at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, around 1970. Their live show was great and they played cuts off both Pretties and Easy Action, starting off with Mister and Misdemeanor. As a guitarist, I tried to learn this album note for note and almost succeeded. If you want to get to the really great beginnings of the Alice Cooper Band, this is the perfect album. I was able to thank Michael Bruce for the great music, but it is just too bad my guitar hero Glen Buxton passed on before I could thank him too.


Nobody likes me but we adore you. ba da ba da yeah yeah yeah   January 10, 2004
 6 out of 8 found this review helpful

Now this sounds a little more like the charachteristicly familiar Coop. At least on Mr. and Misdemeanor and Return of the Spiders. And Refrigerator Heaven. But also there are some really really mellow moments. Already we have a band in evolution. I have the original LP of Easy Action. I can't say anything about the CD remaster, but the vinyl sounds AMAZING. The best sounding AC album ever. The cymbals and high end are crispy and distortion free. Unbelievable for 1970. Killer, the orig. LP version with the 1972 calerndar, sounds like garbage next to this. Same for School's Out. BDB was a huge improvement, but Lace and Whiskey was deplorable. Anyway, AC stays away from the weirdness of Pretties For You, save for Refrigerator Heaven, and Lay Down and Die, which is a long winded space jam, that is actually done very well. We have here some excellent soft rock(!) tunes, with those great smooth vocal harmonies, and again, some tricky musical passages that come out of nowhere. Weird bass runs, dual guitar leads, and some cleaner jamming. This is a definate improvement over the first album in terms of being focused. There is also a more varied use of getting different sounds out of the guitar and more fuzz. Other songs have that classic warm undistorted guitar. Great piano on
some tunes. An obvious Beatle influence again. Just great songwriting.
I can't see how anyone would dismiss this album as crummy. It is more listenable than the debut, so I don't wanna hear that crap about it being too weird or too sloppy. This is really one of AC's most cohesive albums, in terms of songwriting, and in terms of musical technicality. Just listen to the breakdown in Below your Means. Or the progression of Lay Down and Die. Or the melody of Beautiful Flyaway. The hook of Misemeanor. The psychedelia of Frefrigerator Heaven. Brilliant!
I actually like this better than Love it to Death. Which by the way WAS released originally on Zappa's Bizarre label, with a cover that was banned for being to risque. Bizarre was a sub of Warner Bros, so Easy Action as well as Pretties were released by one of the biggest labels.
A truly great album, this Easy Action. I have never made honest juxtapositions, but Easy Action is probably the best album ever Released by Alice Cooper. Beautiful melodies, great rockers, and an outstanding performance. Some of the songs are great in their simplicity, like Shoe Salesman. And slightly weird due to that loud fuzzy guitar. That tempo pickup during the piano solo is one of the best parts of the album. Then those 5 cymbal crashes, slow and powerful along to the simple bass line they've been playing throughout the song is fantastic. And a 7stroke single drum roll before the final chorus. And Alice's vocal hoots at the
end. So easy, so effective.
Oh, just buy the thing.


Alice Cooper's Head Turning 2nd Album   September 3, 2004
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

First came "Pretties for You", an album of strange music with touches of rock n' roll. "Easy Action" is a rock album with a touch of strangeness. That may not seem like much of a difference, but it's unbelievable when you hear the two albums back to back. "Easy Action" really showcases the strengths of the original Alice Cooper band. The manic energy found on "Pretties for You" is still there, but it's been focused. The songs aren't just 1-2 minute oddities like "Titanic Overature", but real rock songs, some of which preview what will become the Alice Cooper sound. The album's opening song "Mr & Misdemeanor" sounds like it could have been included on the "Muscle of Love" album. Other songs presented on this too brief sophomore record to note are "Shoe Salesman", an almost Beatles like tune, and "Refrigerator Heaven" that showcases Dennis Dunaway's bass and Neal Smith's drum work to great effect. We also get a really great tune called "Beautiful Flyaway" that forshadows the fantastic ballads Alice would later become famous for during his early solo career. It's no wonder that Warner Brothers signed Alice Cooper to a record deal after this disk came out. You can tell by listening that this band is something special, and if you are a Cooper fan, this is a must have.